- As the new year greets us Kompakt is already firing on all four cylinders, with this, and another release already in the tubes for K2. Is this what 2006 holds in store for the German minimal collective? Well, it could be worse as Frenchman Florent Renard treats us here with two servings of not-your-average Parisian dance cuisine. Florent in fact, hails from Alsace in the East, perhaps explaining why both productions are nothing like what we might expect from the land of haute couture....
The title track "G-Net" fuses a slightly loopy bassline - like a dog chasing its tail in slow motion - with crisp percussion and melodic synths. Heavy on atmoshere not power, the rhythmic elements are enough to keep it moving foward briskly while the upper end synth action tends to get pretty dreamy and out there, apart from a few sharp bursts of of distorted techy energy at key points. This one could be your feather downing pillow at the end of a night, or a trippy interlude to your spaced-out trance-like dream.
On the flip "Ritournell" opens with Nintendo-style sounds and an insistent beat, before a short playful melody starts looping busily. With clean shuffling percussive elements, and a real swing to the main theme and bassline, this not-exactly-house-but-not-exactly-techno track seems to be all about a kind of sideways sway that builds and builds. Not for those wanting a lot of variation in their tracks, Florent still scores points on this release for combining styles, and doing something other than come up with a peak-time stormer - and doing it well.